Sadly, it isn’t Irina who can now come, but instead AlexC is now coming as well. Let me rephrase that… I’m sad Ira can’t come, but happy that Alex is coming. I hope that is a little clearer?
Now there are three people, I’m hoping at least one of us will remember how to get back to the apartment at all times, if my GPS, PDA and Smartphone batteries all die by the end of each day 🙂
Hopefully either she or I will be updating our blogs whilst out there – worst case scenario is we write posts when we return to Britain, but I’m hoping to at least make some sort of draft notes each day, in case my memory gets too hazy.
Aug 01 2007
Plus One On The Amsterdam Trip
Jul 31 2007
One For Alex
Alex has been a little in the real world recently, so her blog (Dryad Musings) is a little lacking in recent posts, but perhaps this will spur her on? Anyway, next year, her and her brother are hoping to go on a survival experience, and so when I read about an American survival TV show hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, I thought of Alex.
It turns out Bear Grylls had not in fact been roughing it every night for his ‘Man vs. Wild’ (‘Born Survivor: Bear Grylls’ in the UK) program, which many people had assumed after watching the show. He had in fact done his bits on camera, then some nights slept the night in a motel or hotel over night. I just hope they never do that sort of thing on Ray Mears’ Bushcraft shows – we catch them on BBC prime over here, quite a good show.
Jul 30 2007
iPAQ Issues
I previously mentioned that a trip to Amsterdam has been planned, so I have been loading up my PDA with useful software.
Or rather I tried to. Unfortunately, it has a dodgy internal connection (or eleven or twelve); the control pad does not work, and the ability to sync is also an issue.
The first problem I have bodged by re-assigning my hardware buttons as left, right, up and down. However the second issue requires me to repeatedly slot the iPAQ into it’s cradle, until ActiveSync starts playing ball at both ends…
Anyway, I’m still playing with TomTom, trying to get a Netherlands map installed, but I at least have the basics covered with GPS, so should ChrisD and I find ourselves lost next to a random canal, I will at least be able to say with some confidence that we need to walk in a certain direction for 1250 metres to get back to our apartment 😉
Right I’m off to find out what else (software wise) can be put to good use; I also need to keep an eye on power requirements as the 2210’s battery has definitely seen better days.
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Jul 27 2007
Trip Planned
Unfortunately, ChrisD is not able to make it over to Kazakhstan this year. On the plus side, I am meeting him in Amsterdam for a few days of relaxation, and then travelling onto Britain to see family and friends. (My brother’s birthday is something I was hoping to get back to the UK for, and now it is sorted 🙂 .) Unfortunately Irina does not have enough holiday left to come as well, but we will all be back in Britain around Christmas time.
Anyway, my travel details are as follows :-
Leaving Astana 21st September 08:50
Arrive Kaliningrad 21st September 11:00
Leave Kaliningrad 21st September 12:50
Arrive Amsterdam 21st September 13:55
Spend 3 nights in Amsterdam, at an apartment with a view of the canal, that belongs to the Hotel Amstelzicht.
Then on to Britain…
Leave Amsterdam 24th September 18:20
Arrive Birmingham 24th September 18:40
3 and a bit weeks in Britain to say hello to family and friends. Hopefully fit in Evesham and Cheltenham, then Swansea (well Clydach actually), then down to Falmouth for my bro’s birthday.
Then…
Leave Birmingham 16th October 06:25
Arrive Schipol 16th October 08:50
Leave Schipol 16th October 16:15
Arrive Kaliningrad 16th October 19:15
Leave Kaliningrad 16th October 21:35
Arrive Astana 17th October 05:15
(All times are local)
I am going to miss Ira like crazy, but I am looking forward to the break immensely, and it will be really good to see Nick, Mum, John, Dad, Jan and some Cheltenham friends as well.
Pink Badger
Why that random phrase? One of the main reasons I am posting this flight information is so that if family want to know the details, or I am not at home, I or they can just search for a unique (I’m pretty sure I did not include it anywhere else 😉 ) phrase on this blog, and know they have the right post immediately.
You never know, perhaps pink badger is also a popular search engine search term, and I will increase this site’s traffic…. Not too likely though.
Jul 25 2007
17 Visits Away From 18000 !
Well it seems to be the week for blogging milestones. We’ve already had one year of posting, 1000 posts made, now we are just 17 14 visits away from this blog having received 18,000 people!
Thank you to all the repeat visitors, especially for continuing to check in through some of the dry periods last year, post-wise. Also a big HELLO to any new readers who have only just recently discovered the site. To anyone who reads, but does not know how to leave a comment (don’t snigger, those of you who are experienced in such matters), the process is quite simple. All you need to do is either click on the post title, or where it states 0 comments. This will take you to the page set aside for an individual post, rather than the main page that displays all the recent posts. From here, simply enter in your details (your chosen name will be displayed, your e-mail address is never made public, and you only need to enter a website if you want to), leave your comment, then click on the Submit button.
If you have never left a comment before, I will be e-mailed, and need to approve it – this is part of the process that prevents spammers from leaving crap all over the site. Once you have one approved comment, your future ones will be automatically approved, though I obviously still check the content, so don’t abuse the system…
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Jul 23 2007
Balzhan’s Birthday Meal
We (Me, Irina, Balzhan, Ildar (Balzhan’s son), Dr. Natalya, Sveta (Dr. Natalya’s daughter)) all went out Saturday evening to celebrate Balzhan’s birthday, and also because we had not all been out together for a long time. (Sidenote: it was also Sasha’s (Dr. Natalya’s husband – nice man) Birthday… his present was to be allowed the night of from social duties and to go fishing 🙂 )
We decided to go to the barrel restaurant again. I don’t know the real name for the place, but if you are lucky, you can sit outside inside one of their huge barrels. Anyway, I had Mexican steak apparently – meat, tomatoes, Pringles and cheese, along with chips, some coke & apple juice and a little vodka. The food was delicious, and the company was great.
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Jul 23 2007
Floods – All OK, Family Wise
Well, I’ve now heard back from all the family, and everyone is OK.
Dad’s house is OK, but the town itself (Evesham) was quite badly hit, and his car got pretty badly flooded, he is waiting to hear how long it will take to repair the damage done – I’m assuming the electrics were worst hit.
Nick (my brother) lives on a hill, so as he so succinctly put it, if he gets flooded, the whole town is pretty buggered.
Mum and John, who were down visiting my bro at the time I spoke to him, were very lucky with the timing of their journey – they had already left all the roads that were isolated by the rains – so luckily no unplanned overnight stays in their car 🙂
The photo above does look slightly staged, though it still me made smile.
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Jul 22 2007
Britain Suffers From Flooding
No, not a general warning to all travellers thinking of visiting the UK, but I am instead referring to the current problems afflicting many areas in England and Wales (not sure on Scotland). Although Mum in Wales is in an area that is marked as effected by some maps I’ve seen, they live quite high up, so unless there is a river close to them that bursts its banks, they should be OK. I tried calling Dad at home, as his area has problems with all the rain, but as the phone was ringing, it can’t be too local too him, as the phone lines are working, and considering his answer phone kicked in, I can safely assume that the mains electricity has not been cut off; anyway I hope his and Jan’s houses are OK. I’ve spoken to Alex today, who said parts of the Forest of Dean were cut off, and that other places more local were effected, but that she was ok, and that just leaves Nick (in Falmouth) – if you ever get round to reading this Nick, and have not yet e-mailed, leave me a comment so I know you are not needing to take a dinghy into Uni 😉
Jul 21 2007
ChrisD Has Flown The Nest
Chris has finally moved out from his parents. Good luck to him. He sadly has not moved his PC over to his new place yet, so I do not see him on messenger as often. I am sure he is enjoying his new found freedom, and that his parents are perhaps feeling ambivalent about their son no longer living so near to them, but also having made the final step towards independence.
If you ever get around to reading this Chris, please do let us know how things are going. Oh, and WRITE A POST ON THIS BLOG re. LAST YEAR’S TRIP HERE….
Anyway, I hope he enjoys his new place, does not get too drunk too often, or at least no more than previously 😉
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Jul 21 2007
Bayan Is Back :)
Bayan went over to England, or Manchester to be more precise for a few months. She hopes to go over there to earn her Masters degree, and needed to complete a gateway course. Go check the older personal posts for more info and pictures of her.
Anyway, we found out she was back in Astana today, so we all went to Vanquaro (or something that sounds like that. The sign was in English, but the vodka in my bloodstream is preventing me from achieving total recall. Now that was a cool Arnie film… Anyway, I’m drifting off course, apologies) to have a nice meal and for once, Bayan did not drive, so we could all have a few drinks.
A good meal, good company and good lime flavoured vodka.
Oh, and if women order a beer in this country, they almost always receive a straw, to enable them to drink their lager in a lady-like manner…
Here we have Bayan constructing and then devouring a Mexican thingy that the name of escapes me right now…
Finally, we have Ira and Bayan in a shot together…
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